Saturday, 13 October 2007

Hardest Job

I've posted about the first job I've ever had. That post generated lots of comments and posts from fellow bloggers about their first jobs. Now I though I would post about the hardest job I ever had.During my last year at high school I left Wendy's and went to work at Lakewood Bar and Grill. I thought the money would be a bit better. Instead of the minimum wage offered by the fast food industry, I would be given a small hourly wage and then be compensated with a share of the waitresses tips based solely on how well I cleared the tables of their customers.

Lakewood Bar & Grill was a local watering hole on Colfax Avenue which runs the full length east to west across the suburbs and right through the centre of Denver. In the city it is the hotbed for prostitution and drug dealing. In Lakewood, it is the hotbed for dodgy used car dealerships and second hand shops.

The grill had good breakfast and as a child we often went there after church for our Sunday morning breakfast. Most of the customers were locals who sat at the bar or families who came in for dinner. We also had a large number of truckers who stopped in for their meals.

I formed some very good relationships with the waitresses and found them to be fascinating characters. I figured out what their expectations were since each wanted their customers handled slightly differently. I was quick and careful to be not intrusive. I don't think I ever dropped or broke anything.

I didn't mind clearing the tables. The waitresses always gave me at the very least my fair shares of their tips and often I was given generous sums.

The worst part of this job was when we were having a slow night I had to clean the cellar. All the beer kegs were kept down there and I had to clean the floor which meant I had to shift the beer kegs around.

I weighed maybe roughly 70 lbs. I believe the beer kegs weighed more than I did. I would get home from those shifts aching to the core of my body. there were several times I would sit down and cry.

The waitresses used to tell the owner that he really needed to ask someone else to do the shifting but he wouldn't. For some reason I just don't think he liked me very much.

After a couple of months, I quit the job. It wasn't because of the beer kegs. I quit because my mom and I agreed that the late night walk home was too dangerous for a young girl of 17. Looking back on it, I think that was a good decision. We had to walk through a very dodgy part of Lakewood and even now I don't think I would do that late at night.